Meltzer leaving Pride Agenda

Josh Meltzer, the communications director for the Empire State Pride Agenda, is leaving later this month. Meltzer will be working as an adviser to Jon Stryker, a philanthropist who has funded pro-LGBT causes through his Arcus Foundation.

“I’ll still be connected to the issues in New York,” Meltzer told me by phone.

He has been at the Pride Agenda, an organization which lobbies for LGBT rights, for nearly four years. His departure comes shortly after Alan Van Capelle, the organization’s executive director, left to take a job for New York City Comptroller John Liu.

It’s a logical time for a move: both men have been actively involved in lobbying for the legalization of same-sex marriage, a cause which has slowed since it was defeated last year in the state Senate.